ECPAT UK welcomes a new Chair of its Board

Friday, 9th March 2018

ECPAT UK is delighted to announce Katherine Mulhern as the new Chair of ECPAT UK – a leading child rights charity working to protect children from trafficking, abuse and exploitation. Katherine takes over from Ian Hanham who stood down last month. Ian will continue to serve on the board as a Trustee.

Katherine brings with her an impressive track record of broad experience in the field of law and human rights. As well as having been a senior partner in an international law firm with a cross-border practice, she is currently Executive Director of the International Senior Lawyers Project, a UK and US based non-governmental organization (NGO) which provides legal advice for civil society and emerging governments. Katherine was previously Executive Director of the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa, an Africa-based human rights litigation NGO.

Welcoming the announcement of his successor, Ian Hanham, said:

“I am delighted that Katherine has accepted her new role as the Chair of ECPAT UK. She does so at a really exciting time for the organisation, with its ambitious new strategy championing the cause of the rights of children to be protected from trafficking and abuse in the UK and abroad. Katherine will be an excellent Chair of a small but highly respected and influential charity with an impressive track record of successes in its mission for every child to be protected against trafficking.

It has been a huge privilege for me to be Chair of ECPAT UK. I wish Katherine all the best in the role. I know that she will have the full support of an experienced and passionate Board of Trustees and the executive team at ECPAT UK.”

Responding to the announcement of her election as the new Chair, Katherine said:

“It is an honour to have been asked to be Chair of ECPAT UK, whose work I have admired for many years. ECPAT UK plays an important and unique role in educating and influencing governments, professionals and the public on their responsibility to protect and respect the rights of children everywhere to be protected from abuse. The recent past has seen ECPAT UK grow rapidly alongside its growing influence on children’s rights, policies and practices in the UK and across the EU and in key international forums. Its long history and expertise makes ECPAT UK an organisation that policy makers and governments take seriously.

I am very much looking forward to my new role providing leadership to the Board and taking the lead, on behalf of the Board, in supporting the Chief Executive in her role.”

Two leading UK charities, ECPAT UK and Missing People, have released a new report warning that trafficked and unaccompanied children are 30 times more likely to go missing than other children their age. Additionally, in 2017, trafficked and unaccompanied children went missing from care on average 7 times, highlighting grave safeguarding failures on the part of local authorities.

More than 30 child rights NGOs, including ECPAT UK, ECPAT International and eight ECPAT member groups have written to EU President Junckers expressing concern over the wording of the draft Regulation on Privacy and Electronic Communications (e-Privacy Regulation), currently under consideration in Brussels. The NGOs are concerned the new regulation could hamper efforts to track online child sex offenders and identify victims.

ECPAT UK is once again partnering with the Refugee Council to deliver training to over 1,000 foster carers and support workers in accommodation placements in England. The 'caring for separated and trafficked children' training programme will equip those with caring duties for unaccompanied and trafficked children with the knowledge and tools to effectively protect these vulnerable children.

On Wednesday, 17th October 2018, ECPAT UK will join partners from across Europe to participate in a ‘Day of Action’ for unaccompanied and separated children, as part of the cross-border Safeguarding Migrant Children Across Europe (AMINA) project.

Thousands of children put at risk of trafficking by the UK Government’s lack of plan to prevent it, says new report by the Anti-Trafficking Monitoring Group - a group of organisations including ECPAT UK.

Sexual exploitation and abuse in the aid sector has been an ‘open secret’ among humanitarian organisations, with individuals who report abuse continually ‘silenced and ostracised’, according to a new report by the International Development Committee which drew on evidence submitted by ECPAT UK.

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The National Referral Mechanism is a process set up by the Government to identify and support victims of trafficking in the UK. It was born out of the Government's obligation to identify victims under the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Human Trafficking, which came into force on 1 February 2008.

In 2018 we worked with Care2 to call on the Home Secretary, Sajid Javid MP, to overhaul the current system of identification and support for victims of trafficking – the National Referral Mechanism (NRM).

This year, an incredible 120,535 supporters called for specialist support for all trafficked children. However, the fight is not finished and with the Modern Slavery Act currently under review, it’s now or never to make sure your voice is heard. Will you take 5 minutes to contact your MP asking them to raise this issue with the Home Secretary?

The UK Government is failing to protect thousands of children from exploitation by lacking a plan to prevent child trafficking, according to a new report by the Anti-Trafficking Monitoring Group (ATMG), a coalition of twelve UK-based charities, including ECPAT UK. The report Before the Harm is Done, stresses that the UK has no specific strategy in relation to preventing trafficking in children, putting thousands of children at risk.

ECPAT UK offers a comprehensive training programme, in line with National Occupational Standards, delivering courses for more than 20 years to help improve responses to child trafficking, modern slavery and exploitation.

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If you have an immediate concern about a child's welfare, please contact your local council's social care department, who are available 24 hours a day. You can find their contact details on the Directgov website or in the phone book.

You can also contact the Modern Slavery Helpline on 0800 0121 700 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

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